New Zealand mulls natural gas importation

MELBOURNE, Mar. 7 -- New Zealand is considering the importation of natural gas to make up the shortfall in indigenous supplies as production from long-running mainstay Maui field in offshore Taranaki basin goes into decline.

Local gas transmission and distribution company Vector Ltd. is studying the possibility of bringing in compressed natural gas from Papua New Guinea with a fleet of tankers across the Tasman Sea.

The company has joined Papua New Guinea firm Oil Search Ltd. to investigate this potential trade. One avenue could be the shipment of CNG from Gladstone in Queensland when the Papua New Guinea-Australia pipeline has been completed.

At the same time New Zealand's two largest gas users, Contact Energy Ltd. and Genesis Energy, are studying the feasibility of importing LNG, most likely from Australia, if local explorers cannot find sufficient new domestic reserves before the decade's end.

Both Contact and Genesis have gas-fired power stations in New Zealand and require secure generating fuel supplies beyond 2009-10.